Samsung Electronics said it hopes to have a phone based on Google's Android platform by early 2009.
This was what I expected in my blog, Google Android Is Coming to Town: "Unless LG, Samsung and Motorola make some sizable commitments soon, Android will still be a very small player in the high-end market, even by 2010." And now, Samsung seems to feel more comfortable discussing its plan for the Android platform. I would imagine there is a hardware prototype floating around at Samsung, ready for review and software integration on top of it.
However, Samsung did not give any detail regarding the form factor, phone features, target consumer segment(s), price range, or geographical market focus. Samsung did not say whether it will be an Android for announcement or for sale by that 2009 time line, either. Usually, an announcement like this would have been accompanied by one of those details to entice the market or to distract competitors. Since it did not elaborate on any of these, I am guessing this prototype is really just a prototype to conceptually prove Android's capability.
I'd like to give Samsung more credit at this moment. Samsung was able to capitalize on Motorola's weakness the most during last year and that was a job well done. Like I said, if the market momentum shows for the Android platform in the near future, it is Samsung that has the logistics to ramp up volume, which is something the Android community should be contemplating.
This was what I expected in my blog, Google Android Is Coming to Town: "Unless LG, Samsung and Motorola make some sizable commitments soon, Android will still be a very small player in the high-end market, even by 2010." And now, Samsung seems to feel more comfortable discussing its plan for the Android platform. I would imagine there is a hardware prototype floating around at Samsung, ready for review and software integration on top of it.
However, Samsung did not give any detail regarding the form factor, phone features, target consumer segment(s), price range, or geographical market focus. Samsung did not say whether it will be an Android for announcement or for sale by that 2009 time line, either. Usually, an announcement like this would have been accompanied by one of those details to entice the market or to distract competitors. Since it did not elaborate on any of these, I am guessing this prototype is really just a prototype to conceptually prove Android's capability.
I'd like to give Samsung more credit at this moment. Samsung was able to capitalize on Motorola's weakness the most during last year and that was a job well done. Like I said, if the market momentum shows for the Android platform in the near future, it is Samsung that has the logistics to ramp up volume, which is something the Android community should be contemplating.
